Psychedelia, page 73
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Aside from the obvious differences in nomenclature and ultimate objective, the Hindu tantras are not radically different from what the Tibetans had developed within Mahayana. There is a long- running dispute between the two schools regarding historical precedence and qualitative sophis- tication, but this is not something the Westerner needs concern himself with. Fundamentally the Hindu principles are the same: complex tantric methods are employed in a meditative state in order to produce a more perceptive consciousness that may be gifted with siddhis, or special mental abilities, and holds samadhi as the desired end-state. Deity visualization, mantras, yantras (sacred images), attentive breathing, the transformation of desires and other skillful methods are used in order to approach enlightenment in a more effective, albeit somewhat riskier way than traditional dhyana meditation. Tantric Hinduism has been transmitted to the West by a number of modern masters, some of whom have developed substantial departures from the older teachings.
A well-known technique that goes back to Patanjali's sutras is kundalini yoga, which was first brought to Western attention via Sir John Woodroffe's Serpent Power. Popularized in the US by modern-day teacher Yogi Bhajan, kundalini strives to release a powerful energy residing at the lowest chakra and to harness that energy towards enlightenment as it rises through the subtle body. Despite its different origins and notable reputation, kundalini yoga is not very different from the Tummo practice of Vajrayana, although Lama Govinda felt Tummo to be the safer of the two techniques. 20th century guru Swami Muktananda taught kundalini as a way of insight given directly by the guru to the devoted disciple, a physical transmission called shaktipat. When the kundalini energy has stabilized in the 'crown chakra' the student is able to maintain dhyana consciousness in all waking states. Meher Baba expressed a similar view, but insisted upon the need for the guru's guidance beyond the shaktipat empowerment. There is no particular psychedelic connotation to kundalini (indeed, Meher Baba was a vocal opponent to LSD use), except that as a powerful and clearly delineated technique it has interested several notable psychedelic figure heads, including Art Kleps, Tommy Hall and Father Yod.
Another 20th century Hindu teacher who came to influence Western seekers was Krishna- murti, whose radical, anti-authoritarian message gained many followers during the hippie counter- culture. Originally adopted as a spiritual prodigy by Blavatsky's Theosophians, Krishnamurti pro- claimed that the religious student needed neither guru nor formalized meditation practice, both which he claimed brought only repetition of knowledge instead of true understanding. His philosophy, which at times seems more Buddhist than Hinduist, states that the mind and the world are in an everlasting flux whose impermanence is the only observable fact. Out of the urge to be secure, the mind clings to false notions of a 'me' and a 'world', a delusion which can be escaped by developing a 'choiceless awareness'. In a strict vipassana model of careful attention that Krishnamurti calls self-knowledge, the student learns to constantly observe and experience what exists. but without naming it. Having relinquished all acquired patterns and habits, the mind is made clear and without movement, and in the light of that clarity the timeless is revealed. Living in an eternal present, one ceases to collect impressions or experiences; the past dies in each successive moment.
While his ideas are not as original as he claimed (the highest Tibetan practices of Dzogchen and Mahamudra offer similar but more elaborate teachings on how to cut through the materialistic delusion), there is a certain affinity for the psychedelicist with Krishnamurti's insistence upon the power of the individual's intelligence, and his rejection of guru yoga undoubtedly appealed to many independent-minded young seekers of the 1960s-70s. Such controversial standpoints, along with his unusual background as a Theosophian adoptee and unwillingness to clarify the abstract aspects of his controversial teachings, have made Krishnamurti a subject of modern-day criticism. From a psychedelic perspective at least, his ideas fall closer to home than most Hindu schools. A radical Hindu teacher that has interested psychedelicized Westerners to an even larger extent than Krishnamurti is Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950). Originally a political activist, Aurobindo entered the spiritual path by immersing himself in Vedic studies and yoga practice. A profoundly independent thinker, his philosophy strives to integrate the highest states of illumination with the state of the corporeal body and the mundane world of everyday life. It is a rare perspective within Indian thought, and may resemble Plotinus more than the Vedanta.
After rigorous training in which impurities are gradually removed, a 'supramental consciousness' is said to develop and be maintained. Residing in an ego-less Eternal Now, the enlightened yogi is omniscient in consciousness and energized by the mental powers called shakti. From this state, the true goal of Aurobindo's teachings can be approached, which is a physical transformation and evolution of the human body at the cellular level. The visualized chakras and channels of meditation are to become actual gross forms rather than just subtle forms, and their dynamic functioning is to replace the older organic machinery. This teaching of a new, supramental being is perhaps more reminiscent of the Starchild of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey than the brightly clad human deities of traditional Hinduism, and it is not surprising that Aurobindo's teachings have raised interest in the more speculative parts of psychedelic research, such as Stanislav Grof's transpersonal psychology. From the viewpoint of Psychedelia one may also detect a thematic resemblance to Terence McKenna's visions of a planetary species evolving in both body and soul through advanced spiritual insight, all of which is substantially removed from the classic Indo-Vedic models of single masters reaching enlightenment by self-negating their inner and outer human attributes.
Perhaps the most influential Oriental teacher to appear in the West during the 20th century was George Gurdjieff, whose popularity began in the 1930s and lingered well into the psychedelic counterculture era. Neither a Buddhist nor Hinduist, and a native of Central Asia rather than Northern India, Gurdjieff and his leading disciple-spokesman Ouspensky presented a syncretic philosophy that proved to be well designed for the intellectual and spiritual demands of a Western audience. While a work like Meetings With Remarkable Men is notoriously elusive in that it seems to present a series of folkloristic anecdotes from the Near Orient more than any explicit wisdom, the teachings presented via Ouspensky's books offer a more direct access to Gurdjieff's ideas. Much like Krishnamurti, Gurdjieff rejects the dhyanic practice of inner concentration leading to samadhi, and proposes a contemplative method with a strong bias towards vipassana inquiry and insight. The encouragement of an active mind is one of several elements that makes his teachings relevant to the psychedelicist. What each individual needs, according to Gurdjieff, is to realize the predicament of his or her current situation, and through diligent insight training and 'self-remembering' achieve liberation from the current, limiting position. In an often quoted phrase, Gurdjieff pointed out that the first step towards becoming free is to realize that one is in prison – a notion that is perhaps easier to understand for the self-satisfied yet neurotic modern Westerner than the Buddha's insistence upon a world of suffering. As part of his 'Fourth Way' model Gurdjieff emphasized the use of the observing, non-committed inner Witness, a technique whose usefulness in the psychedelic state has already been remarked upon. With persistence, the self-remembering process becomes self-reinforcing:
The more we appreciate our present psychological state of sleep, the more we appreciate the urgent need to change it. The psychological stance required is self-directed detachment, as though one's own thoughts and acts were those of some other person with whom one is only slightly acquainted' Observe yourself very carefully and you will see that not you but it speaks within you, moves, feels, laughs... just as it rains, clears up and rains again.
(P D Ouspensky, quoted in K Walker, 1969)
In the course of self-remembering one comes to realize that one's inner states are constantly flowing and fluctuating and that there is no such thing as a permanent 'I'. An internal cast of characters or 'principle features' take turns on stage and add to the amorphous shape of one's personality. By way of Gurdjieff's self-observation, the multitude of selves is revealed and soon fades away as one ceases to identify with them. The process of 'waking up' means a transition from conceptual self- observation to a state of non-conceptual cognition. In this state the Witness is crystallized as a continuous psychological function, allowing one to see oneself with full objectivity.
This mode of complete self-knowledge is in fact only an intermediate stage, preliminary to the highest state which Gurdjieff calls 'objective consciousness', wherein one sees not only oneself but everything else with full objectivity. Ordinary consciousness is not wholly disengaged, but non- conceptual observation is superimposed upon it like a pair of 3-D eyeglasses, providing a liberating, clarifying perspective upon the usual nervous restlessness of both one's mind and the surrounding world. As described by Gurdjieff, this is a state resembling moksha or satori, or indeed a psychedelic peak experience: beyond ego awareness, beyond cognitive dualism and any temporal notions of before and after. The teachings do not offer the rich battery of vipassana and tantric techniques given in the Indian scriptures, but it appears that the progressive insight awarded via the Witness is deemed sufficient to reach even the highest states of realization. Gurdjieff's insistence upon self- remembering is interesting, and may recall the anamnesis of Plato, in which the subject (such as an initiand at Eleusis) is urged to remember the higher origins of his worldly existence and his ultimate return to this state. As will be seen in a later chapter, the idea of 'remembering' may in fact be linked to the central mysteries of The Psychedelic Experience. The fundamental use of Gurdjieff for psychedelic purposes are primarily found at the beginning of the path, however. His rejection of both everyday consciousness and singlepointed meditation opens a space of mental activity that is well adapted for the psychedelic mindstream, provided that the student maintains a steady Witness presence. Uncovering the deceptions of the self-imprisoned personality with an objective eye is a very natural, albeit occasionally painful, activity in the lower realms of psychedelic Innerspace.
Difficulties arise in the higher stages of psychedelization, where maintenance of the Witness remains equally useful, but where the self-centered examination tends to be replaced by more universal and creative ideation. Unless one has very thick prison walls of self-delusion to dig through, it's more difficult to align the mythological-creative and transcendental levels of the hallucinogen trip with Gurdjieff's 'objective consciousness', which may in fact resemble a kind of nihilism, much like the end-states of moksha and nirvana might appear nihilistic from the hedonist- pantheist mindset common in Psychedelia. Another psychedelic aspect conspicuous in its absence is the temporary peak state, which is addressed with moderate interest in the Indian religions, but appears entirely lacking with Gurdjieff.
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The small number of spiritual masters selected for discussion here all have that in common that their teachings or methods are in some manner relevant to The Psychedelic Experience. The student with a specific interest in Indian and Chinese religion may find other guru lineages of equal or even greater applicability to his or her quest. As an example, devotional (bhakti) yoga may be useful in helping a novice student forward on the dhyana path but is difficult to apply in a psychedelic context, due to the demand for cognitive and sensory commitment from the student, whether chanting 'Hare Krishna' or worshipping deity images. Bhakti yoga is typically seen as an initial phase to be abandoned as the practice advances, and only in rare cases such as that of Ramakrishna or his modern follower Ramana Maharshi, can the bhakti path lead to attainment of self-realization. As with all major Eastern schools, the emphasis is on self-negating, content-less end states.
As the present survey shows, even the most radical and progressive exponents of Indian religion promote doctrines and spiritual paths that do not match the psychedelic enterprise particularly well. The differences are distributed across the whole experiential field, from the manner in which the subject handles sensory and psychological impressions at the early stage of the trip, all the way up to the ultimate soteriology of ego-loss and nondualistic perception. The inter- mediary levels tend to be particularly interesting for this type of cross-doctrinal comparison, as this phase is not only the longest but frequently also the most productive and creative realm of psychedelic Innerspace. On the trip (see chart in Chapter VIII) this third, post-psychological 'plateau' level is signified by several defining characteristics of Psychedelia, offering a wealth of mythological, alien and utopian material for the imagination, along with a sense of creative freedom and problem - solving ability. This is also the level where the tryptamine phenomena of entity communication can be initiated.
Mapping this rewarding mental state, which can linger for 4-5 hours on an effective hallucinogen dose, against the concepts of intermediary states in various Eastern schools, the differences seem to outweigh the similarities. Many spiritual traditions do not recognize a middle- level at all, but regards all kinds of content-based ideation as a delusion which stands in the way of illumination. In other words, much like how the yogin or yogini starts out by examining and ultimately rejecting his or her own psychological processes and mindstream as processes of no higher meaning, so will he or she continue to reject impersonal visions of worlds and apparitions as equally superficial and delusional. There is a direct conflict between the shamanic-psychedelic approach to non-psychological Innerspace content, and the way similar content is regarded in the majority of Eastern thought, which teaches that it should be ignored. As shown above, there are a few exceptions such as the tantric methods which recognize a mental engagement in the mid -level visions of deities, demons, palaces, sacred lands and so forth. However, even this is only a partial agreement, as the tantras recognize such intermediary realms only for the purpose of harnessing their energy towards attaining moksha, nirvana and comparable ultimate goals.
This invokes a vital question which has been touched upon above but deserves to be explored in full: is the ultimate objective of The Psychedelic Experience truly the attainment of a state where both ego awareness and dualist thinking have ceased to exist? Today it is commonly realized that if such states are reached – and only about 20% of the psychedelicists have the ability to attain them – they will never be permanent, but only a temporary glimpse which the Buddhists refer to as stream-entry or, in a later stage, pseudo-nirvana. The pseudo-nirvana state is a distinct experience characterized by clarity of thought, a sense of insight, happiness, bright light or illumination, energy, and an equanimity before manifest objects. As suggested above, its resemblance to a psychedelic peak experience is worth considering, even if verbal labels tend to be somewhat fleeting in moments of rapture. Unlike true nirvana, there is a sense of attachment or love for the pseudo -nirvana state itself, which again fits a psychedelic model. Although merely a marker on the road for the Eastern disciple, this will be perceived as a significant experience for most Westerners. To continue beyond this stage and strive to become an arahant is a life-altering choice incompatible with a normal lifestyle, and among other things it means abandoning psychedelic drugs and rejecting most of the information gathered from the hallucinatory state. Unless one wants to take the dubious, self - defeating path of the spiritual dilettante, it is a rather clear-cut choice that needs to be made.
Assuming that the reader chooses to pursue his psychedelic orientation, an interesting and rarely discussed spiritual field is uncovered, which is that of the high plateau. Before examining this concept in detail, it should be recognized that a few high-dose, transcendental psychedelic experiences, or 'heavy trips' in stoner-speak, are more or less necessary in order for the psychedelicist to bring forth the full potential of his bio-chemical tools. The experience of ego-loss and a nondualist mindstream is profoundly radical and, even as a temporary state, freque ntly life- altering for the subject. The Jamesian realization of multiple worlds that even a moderate dose of LSD will bring is grandly expanded into a reinterpretation of the self and the world that will have a rippling effect across the whole spectrum of one's personality, almost always in a favorable way. Much like an experienced meditator, the adept high-dose tripper appears calm and centered, unfazed by the ambiguities of the world which exercise profound stress on the rigid, non- psychedelic mind. It is not necessary to pursue the ego-death and rebirth process that Leary & co somehow managed to extract from the Tibetan Book Of The Dead; any psycho-dynamic corrections that need to be made are addressed during the lower stages of the trip. Dramatizing a se lfhealing mechanism into a mythological death and rebirth of the personality seems overstated, if not outright damaging. John Lennon, who at one point was deeply influenced by The Psychedelic Experience, later dismissed it as 'that stupid book of Leary's' and criticized its reckless insistence upon 'ego-death'. Rather than any programmed trip, the proper psychedelic dharma should be to go with the flow of the experience and, when needed, rely upon techniques such as the Witness and attentive shamanic navigation.
After the pseudo-nirvana of psychedelic transcendence has been experienced, the psychedelicist can shift his attention to the vast high plateau that makes up the bulk of Innerspace. This is the place of otherworldly visions, metaphysical adventure, profound communal love and free-spirited creativity. One of relatively few thinkers to address this most useful mental state was the American psychologist Abraham Maslow. His lasting contribution to contemporary knowledge is the 'hierarchy of needs', which has had a substantial cross-scientific impact. Of equal or perhaps greater interest to Psychedelia is his research into the 'peak experience' phenomena. Although this did not originate solely from psychedelic experiences, Maslow's ideas arrived most fortuitously in the mid-1960s, and may have contributed to the psychedelic counterculture's fixation upon soteriological states discussed earlier in this chapter. A few years later, towards the end of his life, Maslow had reconsidered his views in light of the pragmatic problems he observed for the average man to lead a satisfying life. As part of this re-orientation, Maslow shifted his focus to what he called the high plateau experience. He had come to see limitations of the peak experience, which despite its enthralling nature often seemed like an emotional outburst, empty of useful intellectual content. The high plateau on the other hand was loaded with acquired knowledge, and it pointed towards a more balanced way of life.
